Dumfries and Galloway Council is introducing a new 20mph speed limit for Langholm that aims to reduce perceptions of road danger while encouraging people to walk, wheel and cycle. It will also seek to encourage considerate and respectful driving within Langholm and create a safer experience for locals and visitors.
Transport Scotland is implementing a temporary 20mph speed limit on the A7 trunk road through Langholm, coinciding with the introduction of the reduced speed limit on the local road network. This will establish a consistent 20mph limit across the town.
Transport Scotland is also implementing revised waiting restrictions at Station Buildings and just to the south of the Thomas Telford bridge, fulfilling a long-standing aspiration of the community. All existing yellow road lines on the A7 within Langholm are also being renewed.
The scheme layout, designed in accordance with current national guidance and in consultation with local councillors, will remain for an initial period of 18 months. Monitoring and evaluation information, including data supplied through traffic data surveys, will then be used to consider and progress with a permanent speed limit. The date for implementation of the temporary blanket 20mph speed limit is 28 March.
Councillor Ian Blake, Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee said: “A 20mph speed limit for Langholm will not only reduce vehicle speeds and collisions but will also make the roads and streets more attractive and safer for active travel and vulnerable user groups. In many places, inappropriate speeds can make travel hazardous where people live, work and play – particularly for vulnerable road users such as children and elderly people.”
Councillor Jackie McCamon, Vice Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee added: “We hope that the new blanket 20mph limit in Langholm will encourage more people to walk, cycle or wheel. Our local towns and villages should be places where people are free to travel in ways that are safe, sustainable, healthy and fair.”
Following the decision at Communities Committee in December 2021, a target in the National Transport Strategy (NTS2) and feedback from the wider public, this scheme will assist in the development of a national strategy for 20mph speed limits across Scotland. To deliver safer roads, Transport Scotland have an aspirational target to ensure all appropriate roads in built-up areas will have a safer speed limit of 20mph. The national strategy has an ambition to improve road safety and health outcomes with additional consideration being given to active travel and climate change targets.
